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SAS Addresses Several Auditing Standards

The ASB issued Statement on Auditing
Standards no. 93 in November (see Official Releases, page
116). Titled Omnibus Statement on Auditing
Standards—2000, it discusses the following changes to
three existing SASs:

Withdrawal of SAS no. 75, Engagements to
Apply Agreed-Upon Procedures to Specified Elements,
Accounts, or Items of a Financial Statement. Since
1975 the guidance for performing agreed-upon procedures
engagements has resided in two places within the AICPA’s
professional literature: the attestation standards and SAS
no. 75. The ASB originally issued SAS no. 75 because a
written assertion—until recently a condition for engagement
performance under the attestation standards—was not
necessary in engagements to apply agreed-upon procedures to
specified elements, accounts or items of a financial
statement.

Since then, the ASB approved issuance of
SSAE no. 10, Attestation Standards: Revision and
Recodification, which, among other things, removes
the requirement for a written assertion for performing
attestation engagements including agreed-upon procedures
engagements. Therefore, SAS no. 75 is no longer necessary,
and the ASB has withdrawn it as well as the related auditing
interpretation.

The guidance in SSAE no. 10 relating
to agreed-upon procedures engagements is effective when the
subject matter or assertion is as of, or for a period ending
on or after, June 1, 2001. Earlier application is permitted.
The withdrawal of SAS no. 75 is concurrent with the
effective date of SSAE no. 10.

Amendment to SAS no. 58, Reports on Audited
Financial Statements. Due to the increasing
availability on the Internet of audited financial
statements, users need to know which jurisdiction’s
principles or standards a company observed when it prepared
those statements or had them audited.

The amendment
to SAS no. 58 therefore specifies that the auditor’s report
should indicate which country’s accounting principles and
auditing standards were used to prepare the financial
statements and audit them.

This amendment is
effective for reports that are issued or reissued on or
after June 30, 2001. Earlier application is permitted.

Amendment to SAS no. 84, Communications
Between Predecessor and Successor Auditors. This SAS
did not specifically address situations in which an auditor
is engaged to perform a first-year audit but does not
complete the audit. The amendment therefore clarifies SAS
no. 84 to include within its definition of “predecessor
auditor” any auditor who is engaged to perform an audit but
does not complete it.

This amendment is effective
for audits of financial statements for periods ending on or
after June 30, 2001. Earlier application is permitted.